The government’s raising of the participation age (RPA) policy has been questioned after figures showed the number of unemployed 16 and 17-year-olds not in education, employment or training (Neet) had actually increased since it came into force.

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), between October and December, 38,000 16 and 17-year-olds were unemployed Neets, compared to 31,000 the previous three months. Between October and December 2012, the figure was 37,000.

The proportion of the total number of 16 to 17-year-olds who were unemployed also rose by half a percentage point. Between July and September, 4 per cent of 1.464m 16 to 17-year-olds were unemployed, rising to 4.5 per cent of 1.461m between October and December.

Jonathan Clifton, a senior research fellow specialising in education at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), questioned whether there had been “enough reform and action taken to make it [RPA] a reality”.

Meanwhile, a Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson said it would not acknowledge or comment on the ONS figures that came out the day Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg (pictured) announced pilots in which Jobcentre Plus outlets would serve 16 and 17-year-olds.

The Liberal Democrat leader also spoke about setting up a UCAS-style application system for vocational courses — a similar idea to that mentioned by Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt in an interview with FE Week last October — and providing young jobseekers with work experience. He also said those without level two maths and English would be required to train as soon as they sign on for Jobseekers Allowance.

However, the rise in unemployed 16 and 17-year-old Neets has drawn questions over the RPA, which came into force in September. It means young people have to stay in full-time education until the end of the academic year in which they turned 17.

Mr Clifton said he supported the RPA as a potential solution to a “collapse in the labour market”, but said people may be “falling through the cracks.”

He said: “Policy like this always takes time to filter through the system and I suspect the main reason [for the rise] is that there has not been enough reform and action taken to make it a reality. Just saying we want people to stay in education longer won’t make it happen. I suspect for a lot of people it is not being tracked and it is very easy for them to fall through the cracks.

“There are lot of things we have got to consider here, like the drop-off in jobs at the labour market, the fact we are still seeing the impact of the cut to education maintenance allowance and we know there are very confusing pathways for people when they do come to leave school. It is not clear to them what else they should be doing and there isn’t a decent offer for them so they just stop turning up, and because a lot of them are still living at home they do not get picked up through the benefits system.”

The ONS figures for October to December further show that there were 1.04 million 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK who were Neet, a decrease of 38,000 from July to September 2013 and down 37,000 from the previous year.

Joy Mercer, director of policy for Association of Colleges, said: “We have supported raising the participation age since it was first proposed in 2008, and we outlined some of our concerns in our report Sticks and Carrots: Will every 16 and 17-year-old stay in education or training? These included poor careers advice — which meant that young people were being told they had to stay in school rather than in education and were not given access to information on alternatives such as apprenticeships and vocational courses at colleges. As local councils were cutting travel subsidies for 16 to 17-year-olds, this made it even harder for them to make a choice that was right for them and affordable.

“Overall in 2013 the figures fell by 0.7 per cent over the year, but it is always going to be a concern that there are any young people not participating in education, employment or training when there are opportunities to re-engage and re-motivate them through college provision.”

The figures follow a review of the country’s youth unemployment policy by Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood. The government said the review would not be published, but it is thought that Mr Clegg’s speech at Southfields Academy in London on Thursday (February 27) drew on Sir Heywood’s findings.

A spokesperson for the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) said: “We welcome the announcements made by the Deputy Prime Minister, particularly in respect of the support being offered by Jobcentre Plus for English and maths.

“We only very recently called for Jobcentre Plus to work much more closely with providers on the initial assessment of jobseekers’ needs, especially basic skills, and at an earlier stage. We believe that more young people will then secure sustainable employment as a result of using employment support services.”

Both Skills Minister Matthew Hancock and Shadow Junior Education Minister Rushanara Ali declined to comment specifically on the ONS figures for 16 and 17-year-old unemployed Neets, and on whether they felt the RPA policy was working. Instead, they provided comments on the general Neet figures.

Mr Hancock said: “We must stick to our long-term economic plan and continue to bring Neet levels down. Through programmes like the new traineeships scheme, we will equip young people with the skills they need to compete in the global race and make a meaningful contribution to the economy.”

Ms Ali said: “The number of young people not in education, employment or training is still far too high and there are nearly a million young people unemployed under this Tory-led government.”

———-editorial———

Need for Neet Minister

The revelation that the number of unemployed 16 and 17-year-old Neets rose after the participation age increased last September isn’t enough for the sector to question the value of the policy.

But it has brought to the fore serious questions about what the government is and should be doing to implement the policy.

It comes, coincidentally of course, at the same time as the Deputy Prime Minister announced he wanted the same age group to be able to use the local Jobcentre Plus.

Hopefully advisers will be fully conversant in the RPA, having already witnessed confusion over what the policy actually means (NOT staying on in school).

And if we could justify a minister for the Olympics, maybe it’s time to raise the youth unemployment profile in the cabinet with a minister dedicated to coordinating coherent Neet policy implementation across departments?

Chris Henwood, editor

Plans to revive the Young Apprenticeship Programme, offering 14 to 16-year-olds a work-based alternative to the classroom, are to reappear before MPs.

Conservative MP Dominic Raab’s (pictured) Young Apprenticeship Bill seeks to bring back the programme first introduced by Labour in 2004, but phased out around 2010 following concerns it cost £3,000 per learner more than if they had been in school.

The Young Apprenticeship Programme was a two-year scheme which combined English, maths and optional vocational subjects, as well as two days a-week in a workplace.

“The bill is about expanding educational opportunity, plugging the skills gap and giving 14 to 16-year-olds a credible, work-oriented vocational option,” he said.

Mr Raab claimed costs associated with the original programme might have been caused because the scheme never achieved the same economies of scale as post-16 apprenticeships. In its first year, with around 1,000 pupils, the scheme cost £3.95m.

Nevertheless, he also acknowledged that there were vocational options available for 14-year-olds with University Technical Colleges and direct recruitment of 14 to 16-year-olds to colleges.

But, he said: “We still lack a work-based alternative for 14 to 16-year-olds.”

Mr Raab’s bill, due to get its second reading in May, was welcomed by Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Stewart Segal.

He claimed the scheme had previously been successful and said current funding flexibilities should allow schools to work with training providers and colleges on delivery.

He said: “We believe that many more young people should combine school studies with periods of work experience and work tasters.”

The bill also won the blessing of Teresa Frith, senior skills policy manager at the Association of Colleges.

She said: “We are pleased to see Mr Raab raising this as an issue in Parliament as we frequently hear a call from employers for young people with better work-related skills.

“Many young people would benefit from a more vocationally biased education, but this must be seen as an alternative, and not as the ‘academic failure’ route.”

 

An academy backed by grade one-rated Walsall College has been warned by the government about “unacceptably low” standards.

The Secretary of State and I are therefore satisfied that the standards of performance at Mirus Academy, Walsall, are unacceptably low,”

Schools Minister Lord Nash has written to Walsall College Academies Trust chair Jatinder Sharma (pictured), who is also the college principal, with a “pre-warning notice” over standards at the Mirus Academy.

He warned that the sponsor college, which just under a year ago became the first outstanding college under Ofsted’s current FE and skills inspection framework, had “neither the expertise or capacity to resolve the issues needed to bring about sustained improvement”.

Mr Sharma said he was “fully aware of the challenge”, but confident he could replicate the level of success achieved by the college at the academy.

The academy, for ages three to 18, was graded as inadequate by Ofsted following an inspection in December and put in special measures, and in his letter Lord Nash highlighted problems with achievement at GCSE level.

He wrote: “The percentage of pupils achieving five or more GCSEs including English and maths in 2013 is below the national floor standard of 40 per cent with only 25 per cent of pupils achieving this standard.

“The academy’s 2013 GCSE results show that too few pupils make or exceed expected levels of progress with only 24 per cent of pupils making expected levels of progress in English and only 33 per cent of pupils making expected levels of progress in maths.

“This compares to the 2013 national median of 73 per cent in each subject.”

Lord Nash said that if standards didn’t improve he could appoint new trust directors. Ultimately, Walsall College could be replaced as the academy sponsor.

And Lord Nash warned he expected academy performance to fall short of the 40 per cent target this year too.

“The Secretary of State and I are therefore satisfied that the standards of performance at Mirus Academy, Walsall, are unacceptably low,” he added.

Mr Sharma said: “We were invited to set up the academy by bringing together the failing primary (at the time of conversion in special measures) and failing secondary (at the time of conversion only just, and arguably unsustainably, having come out of special measures) schools into the region’s first all-through academy.

“With no more than a term to set the new academy up, it is probably fair to say that we did not get everything right in the time we had.

“However, taking on The Mirus Academy was a courageous thing to do. We picked up a legacy of under-investment and neglect and are determined to spread our outstanding DNA. We have now put considerable resources and expertise into the task and it is beginning to show.

“On February 4, 2014, the first post-inspection Ofsted monitoring inspection took place at The Mirus Academy. Following the visit, the inspector agreed that the Statement of Action implemented by the interim principal, (partially) new senior leadership team and the sponsors/governors, was fit for purpose.

“The inspector also commented on a number of actions which already show improvements while giving us constructive ideas for improvement which are currently being made.”

He added: “From the outset, our aim has been to raise student achievement and aspirations and we remain steadfast in this commitment. Our own journey to Ofsted outstanding took more than nine years and we encountered many obstacles along the way. We are fully aware of the scale of the challenge we have taken on and if anyone can transform The Mirus Academy for the long-term benefit of students, we can.”

Around 40 academies have had pre-warning notices since September 2011.

Tributes have flooded in for Labour life peer Lord Bilston (pictured) who launched the all-party parliamentary group for FE and lifelong learning.

Lord Bilston, who was MP for Wolverhampton South East for 18 years from 1987 before joining the House of Lords, has died, aged 71.

He had been suffering from cancer since November and had spent time in hospital before returning home to be with his family in his final weeks.

Christopher Walden, director of public affairs and communications for the Association of Colleges (AoC), praised the peer (full name Dennis Turner).

He said: “Dennis was a steadfast supporter of colleges, and of the AoC, for the best part of 20 years, regularly chairing meetings, asking questions and raising our concerns quietly, but very effectively, with government.

“He set up the all-party parliamentary group, which regularly heard about the work of colleges and challenged ministers to do better for his beloved FE.

“He persuaded the then Chancellor, Gordon Brown, to come along to the group [for hearings in 2005 and 2006], producing a record attendance of MPs.

“Dennis would be as charming as ever in gently encouraging Mr Brown to go a step further in offering something to help colleges with their work.”

The father-of-two launched the parliamentary group in 1997 and served as chair until he stood down in 2005.

And Mr Walden added that Lord Bilston continued supporting FE causes after becoming a life peer.

He said: “He strongly supported our No Free Lunch? campaign and before Christmas we met him to talk about raising the profile of colleges in the House of Lords. He will be sorely missed.”

The No Free Lunch? campaign secured a commitment last summer from the government to extend free school meals to disadvantaged students in colleges from September this year.

Alastair Thomson, principal advocacy officer at the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, said: “Lord Bilston was one of the most reliable and supportive parliamentarians when it came to adult learning.

“He was instrumental in establishing the all-party parliamentary group for FE and lifelong learning and was a frequent and enthusiastic contributor to debates on education and skills.

“He firmly believed that people of all ages should have the opportunities they need to be able to transform their lives and communities through learning.”

Lynne Sedgmore, 157 Group executive director, said: “We are sorry to hear of the death of Lord Bilston.

“He was at the forefront of championing FE in parliamentary circles and will be sadly missed.”

Labour leader Ed Miliband tweeted: “Very sad to hear about the passing of Dennis Turner. He dedicated his life to public service and the people of Wolverhampton & Bilston.”

Lord Bilston was born, raised and lived in Bilston his whole life. He leaves a widow, Pat, son Brendon, daughter Jenny and granddaughter Bella.

The government is in talks to grant 18-year-olds an exemption that would allow them to take part in traineeships and still claim Jobseekers Allowance (JSA), FE Week understands.

Officials from the Department for Works and Pensions (DWP) and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) are, according to a source, in discussions with a view to allowing 18-year-olds to bypass a rule that limits the number of hours they can train every week and still claim JSA.

It comes just days after a similar exemption came into force for those aged 19 and over. This older age group had been subject to a DWP rule limiting the amount of training it could do every week, and still claim JSA, to 16 hours.

But that limit was almost doubled to 30 hours — however 18-year-olds remain subject to their own age group’s 12-hour DWP rule.

A spokesperson for the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) said it wanted to see an 18-year-old exemption and Peter Cobrin (pictured), director of social enterprise group Employment Pathways, said: “The situation with 18-year-olds specifically being denied JSA is both illogical and unfair. If this is a specific barrier which singles out 18-year-olds, then it’s wrong.”

No one from the DWP or BIS was available for comment, but the possible exemption for 18-year-olds to the 12-hour rule could leave an eight-week rule as the remaining hurdle for the traineeships.

The scheme was launched in August and includes work experience alongside maths, English and employability training, and although no official figures exist, anecdotal evidence suggests they have not been as popular as the government had hoped.

The eight-week rule limits the amount of time JSA claimants can spend on any work placement, although it can be extended to 12 weeks if a job offer is likely.

With traineeships lasting up to six months, it remains unclear whether learners who were exempt from the 16-rule could continue to claim benefits beyond 12 weeks.

Stewart Segal, AELP chief executive, said: “The issue of the eight-week rule is something DWP needs to think about because we have a high-quality programme and we should be rewarding people with more flexibility.”

The Association of Colleges declined to comment. No one from the DWP or BIS
was available for comment on the eight-week rule.

All publicly-funded FE and skills courses should have a minimum of 10 per cent online content by 2015/16, a government technology task force has recommended.

The Further Education Technology Action Group (Feltag) report, unveiled in draft at the Education Innovation Conference in Manchester, also said there should be incentives to move the online course content to 50 per cent by 2017/18.

But the evidence does show that online learning helps those who are most disengaged the most.”

The group was set up last year by Skills Minister Matthew Hancock, who appeared at the conference via live video link, and compiled its report, called through online open-access documents as well as online and face-to-face group discussion.

Head of the Feltag programme Nick Lambert said: “This idea [of 10 per cent online content] materialised because it’s one of the biggest things people talked about, but then they all said: ‘But that’s never going to happen’.”

He added the full government response would be available in three weeks’ time.

[Watch a pre-recorded video from Mr Hancock addressing the EICE conference.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CcRod8a6fw&feature=youtu.be

The 10 per cent requirement would be mandatory, unless a “good case” could be made for a course being exempt, the report says.

Mr Hancock said: “I think we can harness technology to drive up standards. It’s about empowering teachers and using technology to improve and strengthen teaching.

“That may mean there are some changes to how teaching happens, for instance becoming more mentoring and more imparting of those very human characteristics you can’t get from the internet.

“I don’t want to be overly prescriptive on the government side of things, there’s a question of how do you implement that without leading to a tick box response, but we’ll look at that and think about it and come back with our response in the next few weeks.”

A number of delegates at the Thursday (February 27) Feltag event questioned how the 10 per cent requirement would affect accessibility for learners, particularly adult learners and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Mr Hancock acknowledged the issue, but said the government was looking to address it through capital allocations.

He added: “We cannot let the best be the enemy of the good. You can’t say that until we have 100 per cent coverage of superfast broadband for everybody, you can’t do anything that uses super-fast broadband, for instance, so we’ve got to make sure we’re moving ahead while also dealing with accessibility issues.

“But the evidence does show that online learning helps those who are most disengaged the most.”

The draft Feltag report came just two days after a report by City & Guilds, entitled Culture, Coaching and Collaboration: How to unlock the potential of digital technology’.

It called for “a culture of experimentation” and support for FE professionals to work with technology experts to develop new teaching.

And the government is hoping to repeat the Feltag research process with the Education Technology Action Group (Etag).

Mr Hancock said: “I’m delighted with what’s come out of Feltag… and I’m also glad that we’ve now got a wider education-wide technology group including [Education Secretary] Michael Gove and [Universities Minister] David Willetts, to cover the emerging role of technology, drawing from FE, where FE leads the way.”

The 30-page draft Feltag report contained a total of almost 40 recommendations, related to learners, employers, provider capabilities, funding and regulation.

Among them were that awarding bodies should consider counting open badges of achievement given out by online courses or apps towards a student’s qualification, and for Ofsted to require all courses to have technology embedded in their teaching and learning strategy.